It's now time for the final MLB award, and it's the one that has been the topic of the greatest debate: AL MVP. Now, I realize that Josh Hamilton is probably going to win. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Just like I don't have to like it that Felix Hernandez won more Cy Young votes than he did games. Hamilton didn't play at all in the most important month of the season. I don't care what you're numbers are the rest of the year, if you miss September, you're not an MVP in my book. Especially when the guys you're in competition with played the entire season. They were contributing for their teams during the most important month of the season while you were sitting on your ass doing nothing.
The "best" argument that I've heard for Hamilton is: "His numbers are just so sick." So what? Now, .359, 32 homers and 100 RBIs in five months are solid numbers. But, as I said yesterday, it's Most Valuable Player, not Best Player and the thesis of my argument remains: he didn't play at all in September. Granted, the Rangers didn't really need him, seeing as they pretty much wrapped up the AL West in June, but they also did just fine without him in September. And the people who use the argument that Joe Mauer won while missing a month last year are full of crap. Mauer missed April. Anyone who knows a thing about baseball will tell you that missing April and missing September are nowhere near the same thing. Nobody's in a pennant race in April. Now, I'm not saying he should be penalized because the Rangers weren't in a pennant race and wanted their best player to be healthy in the playoffs, but the fact that he put up his numbers in five months shouldn't be held against the guys who played all six either.
Now, you're probably expecting me to say that my vote would go to Robinson Cano. I don't hide my favoritism, nor do I hide the fact that I'm more familiar with Cano than any of the other candidates. I actually saw some moron on an MLB.com message board say that Cano's only in the discussion because he's a Yankee. This guy clearly knows his baseball! People who actually do know something about the sport are all in agreement that Cano is a top 3 MVP candidate. He hit .319 with 29 homers and 109 RBIs while playing Gold Glove defense at second base. Obviously the New York writers can't campaign for him, but even the voters in the 13 other cities can't ignore the fact that this guy moved from the bottom of the lineup into the five-hole and turned into an MVP candidate. And he carried the Yankees offense while A-Rod was on the DL. Yankees offense or not, he was one of only two guys in the AL with 200 hits, and the other one was Ichiro, who's superhuman and doesn't count.
But, my vote actually wouldn't go to Robinson Cano either. I know that last statement probably shocks most of you, so I'll say it again. My choice for AL MVP is NOT Robinson Cano. It's Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers. Cabrera was a one-man team for a majority of the season, but still ended up hitting .328 with 38 homers and a league-leading 126 RBIs. He also slugged .622, scored 111 runs and led the AL in on-base percentage (.420). And since there was absolutely nobody around him in the lineup, he drew a Barry Bonds-like 32 intentional walks. When Bonds was a one-man team with the Giants, he was the NL MVP every year. I don't know how this is any different. The argument against Cabrera is that the Tigers finished below .500. True, but how bad would they have been without him? It's not his fault they sucked.
Some of you are probably shouting at your computer screens right now because you think I'm contradicting myself and saying that my argument for Miguel Cabrera is the same one I used against Felix Hernandez, but the difference is that Cabrera's an everyday player and Hernandez isn't. It's apples and oranges. That's why there's an award just for pitchers (although I do think pitchers often get a raw deal when it comes to MVP voting). Teams that went against the Tigers had to find a way to stop Miguel Cabrera every single day, and he still managed to drive in 126 runs while playing for a team that had absolutely no offense other than him after Magglio Ordonez got hurt. (They had Johnny Damon batting third for crying out loud!) Add in the 111 that he scored and Cabrera was responsible for nearly a quarter of the Tigers' offense. He's probably not going to win because of the Tigers' record, but I don't have an actual vote anyway, so I can vote for who I want.
Jose Bautista's 54 homers can't be ignored. Neither can Paul Konerko's .312-39-111 line. But this is a three-man race. My 10-man ballot looks as such: 1. Cabrera; 2. Cano; 3. Hamilton; 4. Bautista; 5. Konerko; 6. Adrian Beltre, Red Sox; 7. Felix Hernandez, Mariners (I know, I know, write a comment and call me a hypocrite if you want); 8. Joe Mauer, Twins; 9. Evan Longoria, Rays; 10. Jim Thome, Twins.
And before I go a turn this back into a blog about all things sports, I've gotta wish a Happy 1st Anniversary to the Darcys and Happy Birthday to Drew Kingsley! Thanks for reading guys. Now, let the debating begin.
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